The Revolution Generation

The hope of the #EndSARS generation suffers no disease; it does not hang on the proviso that God will do it, but looks towards the beginnings of a new Nigeria, its history reshaping, its lines being redrawn, pulling us closer into a new and promised land.

Written by Abimbola Alaba

Dec 23, 2020

#EndSARS protesters at Omole, Lagos. October 2020. AYANFE OLARINDE

Under the asbestos roof of our Lagos home, my father often wielded his famous catchphrase ‘a luta continua, vitoria e certa’ like a shield to ward off the sharp realities of Nigeria. This mantra—the struggle continues, victory is certain—was as alive in his mouth as his tongue, his rhethoric for the unanswerable question of why things here were the way they were. ‘Everything is politics,’ he would often quip, most of the conversations we shared crept into that realm.

From colonialism to military rule, ethnic strife to overpaid politicians, he would discuss Nigeria’s problems for hours, proffering solutions that ranged from the decentralization of power to a return to regional governance to a Jerry Rawlingsesque intervention at Aso Rock. Change bubbled in his heart, but like many of his time, his activism succumbed to the lack of true belief in its eventuality. The epidemic of his generation is the disease of hollow hope, its medicine the faith and prayers that flow through them like blood. Tomorrow will be better in Jesus name. But how to fix today?

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About the Author

Abimbola Alaba

is a Nigerian writer of poetry, essays, short stories, and fiction studying in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge and based in London.

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The Revolution Generation